Seattle Mariners
Key Additions
- DH/C Mitch Garver
- OF Mitch Haniger
- OF Luke Raley
- 2B Jorge Polanco
- 3B Luis Urias
Key Loses
- RF Teoscar Hernandez
- OF Jarred Kelenic
- 3B Eugenio Suarez
- LHP Robbie Ray
- LHP Marco Gonzales
- C Tom Murphy
After finally ending the infamous 21 year playoff drought in 2022, the Seattle Mariners were left out of October baseball in 2023. Following a small roster shakeup this offseason, Seattle will look to bounce back and return to the playoffs in 2024. Jerry Dipoto continued his notorious history of making a flurry of trades and initially odd offseason moves in an effort to steer the Mariners in a more stable direction for the 2024 season. The Mariners offensive star power starts with none other than their 23 year old star outfielder and MVP candidate - Julio Rodriguez. Offseason acquisitions Mitch Garver and Jorge Polanco add more consistent sources of power to go along with recent breakouts Cal Raleigh and J.P. Crawford. The health of this core, especially Garver and Polanco, along with the potential bounce backs of Mitch Haniger and Ty France, are going to be what makes or breaks this lineup.
I really do believe the offense will be what either pushes Seattle to a playoff appearance or hinders them and holds them back, as their pitching look to be one of the best in the sport. In 2023, the Mariners pitching staff finished with a combined 20.1 fWAR, good enough for third in the majors. Luis Castillo returns to be the team's ace once again, with Logan Gilbert and George Kirby following as aces of their own. Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo were introduced to the majors in 2023, flashing their strengths and capabilities to become aces of their own. The Mariner's rotation looks to be so good that they traded away the 2021 Cy Young Award in Robbie Ray for Mitch Haniger. To be fair, Ray isn't slated to return until after the All Star break, but a former Cy Young Award winner is still a former Cy Young Award winner nevertheless. Seattle's bullpen already featured a premier closer in Andres Muñoz, a premier setup man in Matt Brash, and then went ahead and traded for 2023 breakout star Gregory Santos from the White Sox. The more I look at their projected roster, the more I believe in this team to be a serious contender, but that potential lies extra heavily on a healthy season from their contributors.